Progress on the plasmacluster teardown.

Basic chemistry will tell you that such claims are rubbish!

Sounds like snake oil to me. The ions would combine and cannot be surrounded by water. Water is actually a polymer containing MANY H20 molecules connected to each other by hydrogen bonds and would wager that any ions would be VERY short lived indeed.

Try a bit of school chemistry and stand a test tube over each opening while it's running for a while and see what they collect. Glowing splint will relight in oxygen, hydrogen would pop with a flame, normal air will put the flame out after a second.

I misread that as plasma cutter! D'oh!!

And the transistor oscillator and L-C oscillator probably have different native frequencies but are oscillating together because of the feedback link. The ozone would be generated at the ring inside the strongest electric field lines between the ring and the positive needle.

Nani Isobel

Some house plants probably do a better job at filtering, purifying and removing toxins from the air.

Andrew Donaldson

I think you are right Clive, it is a somewhat over elaborate ioniser simply. I guess that it's USP (if it has one) is it's ability to produce neg and pos ions simultaneously as it were. In any case I don't see how you could prove that a corona discharge does all that chemical double speak that they claim.

Edward Parker

I did ponder that. I may ask them.

Big Clive

On mine there's a 10 pin connector that is just used as power to four separately wired modules. It does sequence between them. I'm not sure if that's to prolong their lifespan or to regulate output. There's also a sensor PCB above the emitters that looks like it measures charge. This unit warns that after the rated lifespan a warning light will flash and the module should be changed and a recessed button pressed, so it may just be a timed thing. If it's down to blunting of the emitter tips due to the corona discharge, then theoretically it might be viable to resharpen them with a very fine file.

Big Clive

They're huge in Japan. Almost a status symbol.

Big Clive

I did see that, but I also saw a video of a test showing an ozone meter registering nothing, which I thought was deceptive. It may also be that Sharp are subtly using ambient levels as a reference for their test to lower its apparent value.

Big Clive

Remember that if you can smell the ozone it's probably at a higher level than desired. But in bursts it's OK.

Big Clive

One common method for hydroxyl generation is UV exposure of titanium dioxide. But there are hints that it may not be a good idea healthwise.

Big Clive

Nobody's riding bikes this year. It's going to be very strange. What's getting you down?

Big Clive

I finally got around to googling the unit you were talking about and realized I have seem similar units before. They had them in a lot of hotel rooms in Japan. It seems like most the hotels I stayed at had one in the room. I don’t speak or read Japanese so at first I assumed they were some type of air conditioner then after seeing no exhaust venting I figured out they were air cleaners, some even had water reservoirs for humidifying/dehumidifying(I assume). I could never figure out exactly how they worked I would just push buttons until it started blowing air.

Lostngone

This stuff is a bit beyond me, but I'm feeling privileged just to watch. Best of luck and as always thank you for sharing this

Michael Thompson

Was doing some research on proper use of ozone generators for sterilization and stumbled across this. I'm not a chemist or the like, but sounds at least superficially on track. https://www.cdc.gov/infectioncontrol/guidelines/disinfection/sterilization/other-methods.html A new sterilization process, which uses ozone as the sterilant, was cleared by FDA in August 2003 for processing reusable medical devices. The sterilizer creates its own sterilant internally from USP grade oxygen, steam-quality water and electricity; the sterilant is converted back to oxygen and water vapor at the end of the cycle by a passing through a catalyst before being exhausted into the room. The duration of the sterilization cycle is about 4 h and 15 m, and it occurs at 30-35°C. Microbial efficacy has been demonstrated by achieving a SAL of 10-6 with a variety of microorganisms to include the most resistant microorganism, Geobacillus stearothermophilus.

Sharp claims that it doesn't release any harmful ozone. It doesn't say no ozone at all so they are just underhandedly saying that the amount of ozone released is not harmful. Actual figures are apparently up to 0.01 ppm of ozone released. Read the 1st answer here. https://www.amazon.com/ask/questions/TxKX29FYY563O

evilution

P.S. I have 2 indoor cats so bought an 'industrial' ozone generator which produces 6g/h, I can tell you that definitely does what it claims and it came with a proper UK plug for a change!

The Tinkering Shed

Just read this article, it suggests strong UV is required for hydroxyl production, maybe the Sharp unit can produce very low levels by reversing the polarity? It wouls still suggest that ozone is being produced by the corona discharge but maybe hydroxyl too from the other needle? If that is the case it won't take long for the OH to find O3 and combine into H2O and O2, maybe the real question is are these effective at all? Article: https://www.randrmagonline.com/articles/87202-the-ozone-vs-hydroxyl-debate

The Tinkering Shed

Everything in their claim sounds just like an ozone generator, hydroxyl would be produced by normal ozone generators where (inevitably) water molecules in the air are drawn into the corona, like any free radical they will recombine into a stable form as soon as they encounter a free atom, in this case H. I suspect that you are right, this is just a low level O3 generator with extra marketing wank.

The Tinkering Shed

So depressed at the moment, it is so nice to check my phone and see there’s a Big Clive updated. I wish I was back on the Isle of Man riding motorcycles.... 😪

Lostngone

I have a Sharp air conditioner with a "plasmacluster ion generator" built in. Whenever I've run it it's just smelled like any old ozone-generating ion generator. So I don't run it because I don't want to get a massive headache.

fluffy

I don’t study chem and barely understand this, but, if you put the magic hydroxyl radical maker in a sealed box with some water would it change the pH? Apart from that the only thing I could think of is putting it in a sealed box with something smelly and a VOC sensor, that would be a reasonably cheap test but wouldn’t tell you much about what’s actually being generated just that it at least gets rid of smells. Also is there much justification for replacing those entire modules rather than just cleaning them or replacing just the tips? Looking at some of their documentation for their more modern units they have connectors that appear to facilitate communication with the modules and it appears the device will warn you after 2 years to replace them and after 2 years and 2 months it bricks the modules? And some of those modules aren't cheap at 19,000円 + tax (~US$190).

WizardTim

See Big Clive, See Big Clive think, Think, Big Clive, think! From the new series of not-suitable-for-children's books, coming soon!

Moz in Oz

oh... I read as "plasma cutter" and still confusing until the end of the video

Nguyen Quang Minh

Nile Red or Nurdrage should be able to answer that question Clive

Mike Wynne